Rapid Reading

Rapid Reading by Geoffrey A. Dudley

Most adults read at roughly 200 words per minute. That is barely faster than someone talking to you at a leisurely dinner, and it is the reason your stack of unread books keeps growing, the reason your inbox feels heavier on Friday than it did on Monday, and the reason you finish a chapter and wonder what exactly you just read. Geoffrey A. Dudley, writing in the 1970s for the British self-instruction reader, makes one bold claim and then spends ten chapters proving it. Reading speed, he says, is not set by nature. It is set by habit. And habits can be changed.

What follows is a tour through Dudley's book, *Rapid Reading*, published by Thorsons. It is a practical manual rather than a theoretical treatise. He asks you to do exercises. He asks you to time yourself. He asks you to put a pencil between your teeth and feel ridiculous. The promise is modest by speed-reading standards. He does not promise to quadruple your speed. He promises to double it, and to lift your comprehension at the same time, because the two are not enemies. Slow reading does not mean careful reading. Often it means distracted reading. Dudley's whole project rests on that insight.

Why Read Faster?

Dudley opens by asking a fair question. Why bother? His answer is a list of ten benefits, and they hold up well even read decades later. Faster reading saves time, so the papers, the magazines, and the library books actually get finished. It makes you more efficient at work, which makes you more valuable. It frees executives from the paper backlog so they can think about policy rather than process. It lets you enjoy foreign film subtitles, novels, and the small pleasures of leisure reading. It widens your mental horizon. It helps you gather material for a talk or a conversation. It helps you pass exams. It improves understanding. It keeps you up to date with news and your field. And finally, it functions as a mental tonic. Reading more, more easily, keeps your mind exercised.